As reports of FIFA carrying proactive measures to stop pirate sites from illegally streaming matches of the 2014 World Cup matches, viewers are trying to look for loopholes to be able to watch the tournament matches without cable television or paying premium services, The Washington Post said.
Cofounder Steve Beck of consulting firm cg42 said about customers' preferences to look for free, online solutions as oppose to shelling money for an otherwise frustrating cable experience, "The ridiculously high frustration that cable customers experience puts cable providers at greater risk because what has historically kept people from leaving subscriptions is not keeping them there anymore. The world is changing and there is more available online through various means."
According to Bloomberg, Univision streams all of the World Cup matches on its website for free in crystal-clear streaming video. However, the drawback is that the American Spanish language broadcast television network had only managed to acquire the Spanish language rights to stream the matches, and it appears that there is no option for an English commentary or subtitles for the streaming video. Once the streaming video is up, one would need to go to ESPN radio on its official website for equally clear streaming English audio.
Some viewers, on the other hand, use technical workaround to change their ISP locations to be able to avail, for example, ESPN's video stream of the games online, which is actually free for non-US residents. Enterprising software firms also offer the marvel of VPN services, which allows users to mask their location and avail streaming video services without breaking any laws, the Post said.
On the other hand, FIFA might need more than just an army of lawyers to identify all individuals and prosecute them for wrongdoing. Intellectual property attorney and partner Andrew Goldstein at the Chicago law firm Freeborn & Peters said, "Practically speaking, you have to catch [the users] first of all. And even if you do that what are you going to do? Sue the mother in Minneapolis who downloaded eight songs illegally to set an example? That didn't work well for the music industry."
